GENEROUS Eddie Howe has praised Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer for “building up the club” during his 15 months in charge.

Bowyer, who took the reins on a caretaker basis following the dismissal of Henning Berg in December 2012, again assumed that role after Michael Appleton had been shown the door in March last year.

Two months later, Bowyer – son of two-time European Cup winner Ian Bowyer – was appointed full-time boss and he guided his side to eighth in the Championship in 2013-14.

Blackburn have four points from three league games so far this season and boss Howe feels that his opposite number – a former under-18s and reserve team boss at Rovers – should take credit for helping to bring stability to Ewood Park.

Howe, who managed Blackburn’s arch rivals Burnley, told the Daily Echo: “I think Gary has done a really good job in building up the club after some difficult times off the pitch.

“They look like they have got stability now, which is what they craved, and that has been reflected in results.

“Most of the talk with Blackburn was concerned with things off the pitch until recently when they have managed to just talk about football, which is all they want to talk about.

“I think that when you know the inside workings of a football club and you know what the supporters want to see, that can only help you in your role.

“Once you have an understanding of the youth and reserve players as Gary does, that strengthens your knowledge of what you need to do and what the future holds.

“I think that’s been good for Blackburn and I think they are benefiting from it now.

“A lot of our recent history has been about things off the pitch and now we have that stability and the club has moved forward a long way, and I think it will be the same for Blackburn.”

Cherries suffered their first defeat of the Championship campaign on Tuesday when they were defeated 2-1 by Nottingham Forest at Dean Court.

However, ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Blackburn (3pm), boss Howe is keen for his players to keep in mind the positive aspects of a dominant display in which Cherries created multiple chances.

He continued: “The dressing room was a very disappointed place after Tuesday. The lads were very frustrated at the result but that’s the game – it can turn really quickly.

“We were very unfortunate to find ourselves on the end of the defeat and we have to make sure we react positively and take away the positives from the game because there were so many.”

Comments (1)

Win tomorrow and we can all banish tuesdays unfortuate result from the memory. It will be very tough game at Blackburn which will test the bouncebackability of the players, you can't afford to dwell on bad luck for to long in this league, the games come thick & fast which gives us the oppertunity to get back on track.
Gary Bowyer comes across as a decent bloke and he has clearly done a good job in steadying the ship up there. Rhodes is subject of a bid from Hull which will test the Venkeys ambition, but if he plays im sure Cookie & Tommy will take care of him.

Win tomorrow and we can all banish tuesdays unfortuate result from the memory. It will be very tough game at Blackburn which will test the bouncebackability of the players, you can't afford to dwell on bad luck for to long in this league, the games come thick & fast which gives us the oppertunity to get back on track.
Gary Bowyer comes across as a decent bloke and he has clearly done a good job in steadying the ship up there. Rhodes is subject of a bid from Hull which will test the Venkeys ambition, but if he plays im sure Cookie & Tommy will take care of him.STEADY EDDIE 1 for the road